Amsterdam’s city council has voted to ban cruise ships from the center of Amsterdam in order to limit tourism and ease pollution in the Dutch capital. The council claims cruise ship vessels are not conducive to the city’s efforts to limit tourism and boost sustainability, according to a statement from the Democrats 66 party.
The ban will see the closure of Cruise Port Amsterdam on the river IJ near the city’s main train station, Amsterdam Centraal Station. However, it is currently unclear when the closure will be enforced as the port still has ship calls scheduled until July 2025. The closest alternative port to the city is the west coast IJmuiden, 24 miles away.
Several big-name cruise operators currently list Amsterdam itineraries, including Royal Caribbean, P&O Cruises and Cunard Line. The city is a popular embarkation port or stop on transatlantic, British Isles and Northern and Western Europe itineraries. Many river cruise lines, such as Viking and AmaWaterways, also embark ships or dock in the city on Rhine River and “Tulip Time” cruises around Belgium and the Netherlands.
TPG has contacted Cruise Port Amsterdam and several cruise operators for more details on how the ban may affect scheduled cruises to the city and will update this story when we hear back.
The crackdown on cruises is the latest move by the city to reduce tourism in the Dutch capital, which has seen numerous recent campaigns to discourage tourists attracted by its infamous party town reputation and reduce group travel.
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The proposal to ban cruises had been put forward by the Democrats 66 party, which oversees the city alongside the social democratic PvdA and the GroenLinks environmentalists.
“[Cruise pollution] does not match the sustainable ambitions of our city,” D66 politician Ilana Rooderkerk said in a statement. “In addition, cruise ships in the city center do not fit into Amsterdam’s task to reduce the number of tourists. In other words, Amsterdam sails better without cruises.”
Officials see banning cruise ships as an easy win for Amsterdam’s ambitious sustainability target of becoming completely emission-free by 2030. One 2021 emissions study found a single big cruise ship produced the same pollution levels in a single day as 30,000 trucks.
Further bolstering its sustainability efforts, the Dutch government also plans a 12% reduction in air traffic to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) by 2024. The plan will see the airport’s current annual cap of 500,000 flight movements cut to 440,000.
In addition, Amsterdam has a reputation as one of Europe’s most notorious cities, famed for its cannabis cafes and red light district, with around 22 million tourists flocking there every year. In recent years, city officials have sought to reinvent the image of the Dutch capital by reducing party tourism and upping their sustainability stakes.
Mayor Femke Halsema, a former GroenLinks party leader, has been a strong proponent of reducing “party tourism” in the city. “We do not want to become Venice or Dubrovnik, where your historical center has become a closed theme park,” Halsema told Bloomberg in 2022. “In the future, it has to be a livable part of the city.”
Earlier this year, the city council launched “Stay Away,” an online campaign to dissuade visitors — particularly bachelor parties — and discourage rowdy and disruptive behavior.
In May, the council introduced new rules that made it illegal to smoke cannabis on the street and imposed earlier closing times for restaurants, bars and sex worker venues.
As per the new regulations, sex workers must now close their venues at 3 a.m., with bars and restaurants forced to close at 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and new visitors no longer permitted to enter the old city center after 1 a.m.
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